Call to scrap 'biased' Chinese culture classes

By Anna Patty

13 July 2011 — 12:00am

A CHINESE government-funded languages and culture program, being introduced in NSW classrooms this month, has sparked political controversy and calls for its removal.

A petition with more than 4000 signatures tabled in the upper house of the NSW Parliament calls for the government to remove the Confucius Classroom Program from the schools where it operates: Chatswood Public, Fort Street High, Mosman High, Kensington Public, St Marys Senior High, Kingsgrove North High School and Coffs Harbour High.

"The teaching of languages in schools is something I support most strongly" ... NSW Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli, has defended the Confucius Classroom Program.Credit:Peter Rae

The government has confirmed that controversial topics, including the Tiananmen Square massacre and China's human rights record, will not be discussed in the program, raising questions about China's influence over content.

The petition states that foreign governments should not determine what is taught in NSW schools and that the curriculum should be free of propaganda.

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''The teaching of Chinese language and culture is welcome in NSW schools but it should be available free from the influence of the Chinese Communist Party doctrine and censorship.''

China pays NSW schools more than $200,000 to promote its language and culture through the Confucius Institute, based at the Education Department's Ryde office.

The sudden proliferation of institutes worldwide has prompted concerns that the Communist government is using the non-profit public centres as a tool to enhance its image.

Greens NSW MP John Kaye said impressionable students were being exposed to a ''biased view of Chinese history, human rights and world affairs because the NSW government is too cheap to pay for properly qualified teachers''.

"Students are being denied a balanced curriculum that explores controversial issues, such as human rights violations and Taiwan, because critical examination might upset the Chinese government,'' he said.

"Teaching Chinese language and culture is important but the community is clearly outraged that the right to determine what is taught in NSW classrooms has been compromised.''

The NSW Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli, said the role of the Confucius Institute and Confucius Classrooms was to deliver support for the teaching of Chinese language and culture in NSW government schools.

"The teaching of languages in schools is something I support most strongly," he said

He said the Chinese language syllabuses did not include the study of political content.